Elizabethan era
| Elizabethan era | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1558–1603 | |||
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| Monarch | Elizabeth I | ||
| Leaders |
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| English history |
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| Timeline |
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history, with an effective government, resulting from the reforms of Henry VII and Henry VIII, and a prospering economy boosted by trans-Atlantic trade and privateering. During this time, the Protestant Reformation became more acceptable to the people, and it was the last period in English history before the royal union with Scotland. England began to engage in international exploration and expansion. Culturally, this period represented the apogee of the English Renaissance and saw a flowering of poetry, music, literature, and especially theatre, with playwrights such as William Shakespeare breaking new ground.
The Elizabethan age contrasts sharply with the previous and following reigns. It was a brief period of internal peace between the previous century's Wars of the Roses, the English Reformation, and religious battles between Protestants and Catholics, and the later conflict of the English Civil War and the political battles between parliament and the monarchy that engulfed the remainder of the seventeenth century. Under Elizabeth, the religious conflict was settled for a time by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, and Parliament was not yet strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.
During this time, England was well-off compared to the other nations of Europe. The Italian Renaissance had come to an end following the end of the Italian Wars, which left the Italian Peninsula impoverished. The Kingdom of France was embroiled in the French Wars of Religion (1562–1598), and the centuries-long Anglo-French Wars was largely suspended for most of Elizabeth's reign.
England's major rival during this time was Habsburg Spain. Their clashes in Europe and the Americas exploded into the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War of 1585–1604. A 1588 attempt by Philip II of Spain to invade England with the Spanish Armada was famously defeated.